-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Attorneys for a Guantanamo Bay detainee on a hunger strike say a U.S. military nurse has refused to conduct forced feedings of inmates .

Abu Wa'el Dhiab has been at the U.S. Navy base on Cuba since August 2002 , attorney Cori Crider told CNN .

Crider says Dhiab told her in a telephone call last week about the reported actions of the unnamed male nurse , believed to be a Navy medical officer .

`` Initially , he did carry out his orders and participate in the tube feedings . But when he came , as soon as he saw what was happening , he started talking to the brothers , '' meaning the inmates , Dhiab was quoted as saying . `` He explained to us : ` Before we came here , we were told a different story . The story we were told was completely the opposite of what I saw . ' Once he saw with his own eyes that what he was told was contrary to what was actually taking place here , he decided he could not do it anymore . ''

A Pentagon official late Tuesday confirmed , `` There was a recent instance of a medical provider not willing to carry-out the enteral feeding of a detainee . The matter is in the hands of the individual 's leadership . The service member has been temporarily assigned to alternate duties with no impact to medical support operations . ''

There are 147 personnel attached to the Joint Medical Group , of which 83 are responsible for direct detainee care .

Details of the nurse 's refusal were first reported by The Miami Herald .

The military refers to the controversial process as `` enteral feeding , '' which is designed to provide liquid nutrition and medicine via a tube inserted in the nose directly into the stomach . CNN was recently given a tour of the hospital at Guantanamo , where the forced feeding procedures were demonstrated without the involvement of any inmate .

Dhiab is part of a group of detainees who are participating in a hunger strike to protest their continued , open-end detention without charges being filed , said Crider , who works at the London-based legal defense group Reprieve .

Crider said it was believed to be the first time one of the U.S. medical personnel has refused to carry out the feeding regimen .

`` This nurse showed incredible courage -- to see the basic humanity of the prisoners and to recognize that force-feeding is wrong is a historic stand , '' Crider told CNN . `` It meant a great deal to my client and to the other cleared detainees who are hunger striking . ''

Through his legal team , Dhiab has filed a federal lawsuit , protesting the forced-feeding policy . The U.S. military has justified it as humane and necessary to keep the inmate alive . There are about 150 inmates currently at Guantanamo .

Supporters of Dhiab say he is among more than 40 men who at one time in the past few years were being forced fed .

In their June 2013 lawsuit , Dhiab and three other men urged the court to intervene quickly .

`` Petitioners request an expeditious hearing on this application because of the extreme nature of the human rights and medical ethics violations that result from petitioners ' force-feeding , '' said the lawsuit , `` and because of the imminent risk that it will deprive them of the ability to observe the Ramadan fast , '' which typically happens in July .

`` Petitioners do not trust the Guantanamo doctors and nurses , because those staff have been ordered by their superior officers to subject petitioners to a force-feeding regimen they reject and which causes them humiliation and pain . ''

Dhiab , 43 , was captured in 2002 in Pakistan . His supporters deny he is a terrorist and say the Syrian had been operating a food import business in Kabul , Afghanistan before the 9/11 terror attacks .

He has been cleared for release since 2009 , but U.S. officials said they were reluctant to send him back to Syria because of that country 's ongoing civil war . His supporters say he could be sent to Uruguay , but there is no indication when any transfer would happen .

A federal judge in May allowed Dhiab to be forced-fed to keep him alive , but strongly urged authorities to use other methods , criticizing the Pentagon 's continued `` refusal to compromise . ''

`` The court is in no position to make the complex medical decisions necessary to keep Mr. Dhiab alive , '' said Judge Gladys Kessler . `` Mr. Dhiab may well suffer unnecessary pain from certain enteral feeding practices and forcible cell extractions . However , the court simply can not let Mr. Dhiab die . ''

Kessler also ordered the Obama administration to release 34 video recordings of Dhiab being forced-fed , as well as the detainee 's medical records .

The legal case is Belbacha v. Obama -LRB- 04-2215 -RRB- .

Lawsuit : End forced feedings before Ramadan

Judge allows forced feeding to resume on Guantanamo detainee

CNN senior Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr contributed to this report .

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U.S. military nurse reportedly refuses to take part in forced feedings

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Pentagon official confirms `` recent instance ''

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Detainee has been held at Guantanamo Bay since 2002